Little Red
by Starwolf411
Summary: The original Grimm's tale is very dark...but could it lead to murder? The BAU is on the case when young college women go missing and end up dead with posed bodies. As they try to unravel the case, it becomes clear that this isn't one unsub, but a group and their out to do one thing. Read to find out what! I suck as summaries but read and review! Rated T just in case!
1. Chapter 1

**For those of you following/reading my other Criminal Minds story (Popular), I haven't given up on it! Don't worry, I'm just facing writers block with that finale so I thought I'd get my mind off it and start a story that I've had in my mind for a while now. **

**Speaking of my other story, you're going to notice that a lot of my stories take place in Texas. I'm very hesitant about writing about other states because I don't want to get the geographic areas wrong so I normally make my stories take place in areas that I have either visited recently or know people who live there so that way I can get my facts right. If you would like to send me info about places I can center my stories in, that would be awesome and very helpful! I appreciate it!  
**

**I have always LOVED the Brothers Grimm and writing a Criminal Minds fic about them is awesome! Little Red Riding Hood (a.k.a Little Red Cap) to me has always been a very dark story and I tried to put my own twist to it to make it darker. Now I won't keep your reading my mindless babbling! Enjoy!**

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"Every fairy tale had a bloody lining. Every one had teeth and claws."

Alice Hoffman

* * *

The woods were silent, only crickets and the occasional night stalker disturbing the quiet. The forest had settled down for the night and nothing was going to disturb it. That is until the woman came crashing through it. Her hands were still bound in front of her with duct tape and her blond hair was caked with mud and twigs. She was running as fast as she could to get away from whatever was chasing her.

The quiet was interrupted as she continued to crash through the trees letting out a painful cry in between sobs whenever she stepped on a rock or a sharp stick. However, she could still hear them behind her, running as fast as they could to get their prize. Their whooping and hollering forced her to continue running as it faded into the distance. Finally it stopped and so did she.

Her mouth felt dry as she gasped for air behind a large tree, sliding down the trunk until she hit the ground. Whimpering slightly, she glanced around the trunk into the darkness. Nothing stirred. Even the crickets had stopped chirping. Sighing in relief, she turned back and screamed loudly as three sets of arms grabbed her, laughing cruelly as they lifted her up.

"Thought you'd get away from us girl?" The largest one said as he handed her to the two smaller ones, their masks covering their face.

"Please!" She cried softly. "Please let me go. I won't tell anybody."

"Don't think you can fool us like that." The shorter one whispered in her ear. And with that, Melody Darner was dragged away into the night.

* * *

"I still couldn't sleep last night!" Prentiss laughed as she and JJ walked into the BAU Office. "I like a good horror movie as much as the next one, but The Ring really kept me up."

"Prentiss you serious?" Morgan walked into the conversation as the two women walked past he and Reid getting coffee. "Your afraid of a little girl coming out of the television? Need me to call a therapist?"

"Actually a fear of that particular movie is not uncommon." Reid piped in. "It falls under the category Psychological Horror film, which normally aim to cause discomfort by exposing common vulnerabilities and fears that most people can relate to whereas splatter horror films use a technique that hardly anybody relates to. So logically speaking, a fear of this type of genera would be acceptable as it plays on our fear of things that..."

"Thank you Dr. Reid." Prentiss interrupted, smiling at the young agent. "Either way, it was a scary movie. That's all." JJ laughed and Morgan chuckled as Reid opened his mouth to speak again.

"BAU team, conference room now." Hotch's voice rang out through the office, cutting the conversation short as he continued walking down the ramp to the room.

"Why watch horror films Prentiss?" JJ asked quietly. "We live through our own." and with that said, the team filed into the room, which already held Hotch, Garcia and Rossi and took their respected seats around the table.

"Today my ducklings, you are requested in San Marcos, Texas." Garcia started the presentation and a females picture flashed on the screen. "This is Ashley Sans, a 19 year old college student who attended school there. About a month ago, she was reported missing and turned up the next day. Her body was found in the middle of a park on the campus dressed like this." She clicked the remote again and another image flashed next to Ashley's. It showed the blond teen, but dressed in different clothes. A long red cloak lay sprawled beneath her body and her hair looked curled under the hood. Her makeup had been increased and lips painted red, a contrast to her pale, dead skin.

"He redressed the body." Prentiss started. "Maybe someone important to the unsub who they feel wronged them?"

"Look how she's posed." Rossi pointed out. "Her hands are folded across her chest and her head pointed straight up. If she were in a coffin, that's how she would be laid out. Maybe a sign of remorse?"

"She's been cleaned to." Morgan pointed out. "That blue dress that she's wearing shows no sign of blood or wounds."

"What was the cause of death?" Reid asked.

"The coroner reported that she had been strangled with some kind of rope." Garcia said. "But that's not all. Enter victim number two."

Another picture flashed upon the screen, this one of another blond girl with braces and laughing at the camera. The picture next to this showed her dead body in a similar location to Ashley's, in the same attire; a long blue dress with a red cloak behind her, hair curled and makeup done.

"This is Melody Darner. She went missing five days ago and staff members discovered her body across the river in the same park where Ashley's was yesterday. Same cause of death, though this time, they found more."

"What do you mean more?" Hotch asked.

"This..." Garcia clicked the remote and looked away so as not to see the image on the screen. Morgan whistled and JJ gasped slightly.

_EYES  
_

"Someone...carved that into her chest?" Prentiss asked quietly. No one answered, or had to. The evidence was clear on the screen.

"How did the blood not seep through the fabric in the dress?" JJ questioned aloud.

"It was probably done before death." Hotch answered. "Then cleaned up after she was strangled so that only the scars remained."

"Eyes..." Reid muttered aloud, his brain whirring. "What big eyes you have."

"What?" Morgan glanced at the young genius.

"What big eyes you have." Reid repeated. "A famous paraphrase from the story Little Red Cap by the Brothers Grimm, more widely known as Little Red Riding Hood. It makes sense, the bodies are posed as they would be in a forest and the look matches famous artists descriptions of what she looks like."

"How could a fairy tale prompt someone to murder?" Prentiss asked, shaking her head.

"The original tale is actually much darker than a children's fairy tale." Reid said. "We should probably study the original version to get a good look on what this unsub is thinking."

"He kept Melody for four days and tortured her before killing her. He only kept Ashley for a day." Morgan said. "Why the increase in time?"

"Maybe Ashley fought back? Or Melody gave him something she didn't? Either way, he's on the hunt for a new victim and we need to get there now." Hotch said. "Get your bags, wheels up in thirty."

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**Good so far? I'm trying hard to improve my writing style to make it more dramatic and less full of mistakes. REVIEWS ARE APPRECIATED SO I KNOW WHETHER TO CONTINUE OR NOT!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Ok so I'm working on this story and what does my mom send me? A text saying that she just rented the movie "Red Riding Hood" (the 2011 version) and wanted to know if I wanted her to send it to me to watch. Creepy right? Just thought I'd share this cool coincidence. **

**Anyway, enjoy part two! **

**I KNOW IT'S SHORT AND I'M SORRY, BUT I HAD TO WRITE IT REAL FAST CAUSE I'M JUST ABOUT TO LEAVE FOR CLASS SO TECHNICALLY THIS IS PART ONE OF CHAPTER TWO IF THAT MAKES ANY SENSE. I JUST WANTED TO UPDATE ASAP SO LOOK OUT FOR THE NEXT PART!  
**

* * *

"The original tale wasn't actually written by the Brothers Grimm." Reid started as the plane took off and Garcia got settled with her camera so as to be connected to the rest of the team. "It was first recorded by Charles Perrault and it was much darker than the children's tale we know today."

"Dark enough to result in murder?" Prentiss asked.

"Maybe. There were many different versions and in fact most only had the three main characters in it. The role of the huntsman wasn't introduced until the Brothers Grimm retold the story. In earlier versions, Little Red was sometimes killed after being tempted into bed with the wolf while in others she saw through the disguise the wolf had on and managed to escape."

The others all nodded as Reid continued to inform them about the tale that the murder was based off of. "Sometimes the animal wasn't a wolf. A more common version shows him being a werewolf."

Reid grimaced slightly. "In some, the little girl is actually tricked into eating her grandmothers meat before getting into bed."

"Ok that's enough please. My stomach can't handle fairy tales." Garcia said. Reid shrugged.

"No matter what version, the moral is always the same." Morgan said. "Don't go off with strangers. So maybe that means something? Is it possible the unsub knew our victims?"

"I don't think so." Hotch said. "They didn't have the same patterns. Different classes, different hang outs, Ashley went to church and Melody went to parties. It's not likely the unsub would meet them both in the same spot."

"This unsub takes time with the bodies, posing them and doing their hair and makeup." Rossi thought aloud. "That takes time and privacy. He can't have anybody walking in on him while he's dressing these girls. He also might need a big van to keep them in for transport."

"Garcia, look up residents who own vans and possibly live in urban areas close to the campus." JJ said. "Considering it's a college town, that might narrow down the search a bit because it narrows out the apartments and dorms."

"But that doesn't narrow out the possibility that it's a student." Morgan said. "The kills scream organization, but the placing shows that he probably knows the town and campus. I'm going to bet this isn't his first kill."

"Alright when we land, Morgan and Reid, I want you to visit Sewell Park where the bodies were dumped. JJ and Dave, you guys talk to families and see what you can find out about how the unsub probably met these girls. Prentiss and I will go to the station and start talking with local law enforcement and campus security to see what we can find out." The team nodded, their roles set as they all got quiet to review the case files and Garcia shut down her camera, sending a silent prayer as she did every time her ducklings were sent into danger.

* * *

"Dude, check out the news." A kid tapped Trevor on the shoulder and they both looked up. It was a report about the two dead teens they had found on campus and what police were advising students to do.

"Can you believe that?" The kid asked Trevor as he sat down on the chair next to him in the Starbucks on campus. "Sucks for the families of those girls."

"Yea I know right?" Trevor said as he closed his book. "I bet the police are going crazy."

"Gonna bet all the girls on campus are going crazy!" The kid chuckled a bit. Trevor's pocket suddenly buzzed and he looked down at his phone.

_Jackson Dorm room # 312 NOW_

"Hey man I gotta go." Trevor hit the kid on the shoulder as he walked off. "Later."

At the dorm, he swiped his ID card and heard the small _click_ as the front door unlocked and he entered the building and got into the elevator.

It was empty and the ride up to the third floor was quiet.

Finally he reached room 312 and knocked on the door. It swung open and he felt himself yanked inside and heard it slam shut.

"What the hell man?" He said, knocking the hand that held him off. "A simple hello will do!"

"Dude, they called in the FBI." The second boy, Samuel, said to him. "I heard one of the campus officers talking about it! What are we going to do?"

"Calm down for one thing." Trevor said, smoothing the wrinkles out of the front of his shirt.

"Calm down? Dude did you hear me? The FBI are coming here!" Samuel's eyes got wide and Trevor saw he was close to losing it.

"Ok ok lets think ok?" Trevor began to pace around the room that Samuel lived in alone. "Did you call Tyler?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"What's he going to do about it?"

"You idiot!" Trevor hissed at him. "Tyler got us into this!"

"Dude, he fucking scares me alright?" Samuel whispered as if the third man was in the room with them. "Why do we trust him? How do we know he's what he says he is?"

"You saw the proof right?" Trevor felt his voice lower to. He hated to admit it, but the older man frightened him as well, though not nearly as much as Samuel.

"Computer data is easy to fake." Samuel whispered. "And so are family trees."

"Just trust him ok? If not him, then me." Trevor patted Samuel on the back. "Just stay calm, don't act out of place and we'll meet with Tyler tonight at the same spot alright? He says there's still more of her descendents on campus. Once we get rid of them, Tyler will leave to go get some more while we get our degree's and we'll meet back with him later."

"Yea I know the plan." Samuel muttered.

"Then what's the worry? The police haven't caught us, the FBI won't either and we're all safer now that those bitches are dead." Trevor opened the door to leave. "Just relax ok?"

With that, he left the third member of the group to his thoughts.

* * *

**Ok so I've got some tests coming up and on top of that, for the next week I'll be in a friend's room having "Harry Potter Week" (yea you read right!) so I can't update as often, but I will try my best to update every chance I get! Fingers crossed that it'll be soon!**


	3. Chapter 3

**My computer needs a good toss out a three story window because it continues to crash and I lose all the progress I make in these stories. Updates MIGHT take longer, but I have other means so I can try to work around this small setback.**

**Anyway, thanks to the followers and sorry for any spelling or grammar mistakes you see here. =)**

**REVIEWS APPRECIATED**

* * *

"What are you guys worried about?" Tyler asked. He had been noticing Samuel's twitching from the back seat all night and Trevor had been silent since the two entered his car from the parking garage and the entire ride to the fields where they were just about to get out and smoke.

Samuel stole a glance with Trevor before getting out of the car, leaving the shorter boy to tell Tyler about their most recent set back.

"Um, the uh, the campus police were talking today and uh, they…I guess they called in the FBI to work the case about the dead girls." Trevor said nervously. He watched Tyler closely for his temper to rise to the top as it did so many times when they were talking about _her_.

Tyler bit the inside of his cheek before stepping out of the car, Trevor following close. Samuel had already gone around to the back of the large van and opened the back doors, making enough room for the three to sit comfortably as they smoked and drank a few beers.

Finally, after the two college boys couldn't take it anymore, Samuel spoke up. "So what do you want us to do about it? I mean these guys ain't university police guys, this is the fucking FBI."

Trevor chuckled and blew a puff of smoke at them before responding.

"Nothing."

"Nothing?" Trevor repeated.

"Yea. We do nothing. We should have no reason for the FBI to suspect us of any crime." He paused to take a drink of beer and a few more puffs of smoke. "My grandfather taught me a lot of secrets about my family and I've picked up tips and tricks on how to get away with things. We did the rituals perfectly,"

"With a little added bonus on the second chick." Trevor added, smiling nervously. Tyler chuckled again.

"Yea, and we also cleaned up our mess and took out our trash. It's nearly impossible to track us down." He smiled as he stood up and flicked his cigarette to the ground, stepping on it. "Guys, you're young. We still have another few days before I discover who the next descendent of that bitch is so in the mean time, relax and enjoy college." He laughed at his joke as he walked around to the front of the van.

Trevor, who had been drinking in every word the older man said, got up to and began pushing out the empty bottles and cigarette butts out of the van and onto the ground. Finally, Samuel slammed the back doors shut.

"Dude you ok?" Trevor asked.

"Yea I guess." Samuel responded. "Just a little freaked you know?"

"Relax. You heard Tyler. He'll take care of it." He smiled and slapped Samuel on the back. "We're doing a good thing here alright? These girls are _her_ decedents and we need to get rid of them before they get rid of people like Tyler. Their dangerous and we're just helping move the world along."

From the front seat, Tyler watched Trevor consol Samuel. The youngest of the group, though he was taller than Trevor and nearly matched his size, Samuel worried him the most. Reaching into his shirt, he pulled out the vial of blood that he kept around his neck and began to stroke it as he thought about ways to kill the next girl and keep Samuel silent.

"Let's go man." Trevor hopped in the front seat as Samuel hesitantly climbed into the back. Tyler only nodded and started up the van, heading back to campus.

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**Months of waiting and you get the shortest update ever! Well technically I guess you could say chapter three was written in two parts and I'm still working on the second part and...yea yea yea excuse excuse excuse. I will never ever ever ever take that long to update again and NEVER will my updates be this short! I am very sorry you guys, but stay tuned. Profile is coming up and killer twist and turns along the way (no pun intended). **

**REVIEWS APPRECIATED AND HOPED YOU ENJOY!  
**


	4. Chapter 4

**Ok allow me to clear some things up before I continue. First, there wasn't a picture of an eye carved into the dead girl. It was the word EYES. Not a picture-sorry about the confusion. Two, in answer to your question Gemini Explorer, yes they still do the glass bottom boat tour rides in San Marcos. I did one the last time i visited my friend who went to college there. They are very fun! And three, I accidentally posted in the last chapter that it was technically part one of chapter 3, but in the chapter before that, i posted that it was part one of chapter 2. So throw the parts out the window and let's go back to chapters because I'm confusing myself! Haha! Enjoy and REVIEWS ARE APPRECIATED!**

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"You can see here where the carving started." The coroner pointed out the beginning of the letter "E" in the word EYES that was carved into Melody's skin, right below the neck and above the breasts. Rossi and Prentiss leaned in closer to see. "The carving was definitely done before she died, though it's not what killed her. Like the first girl, she was strangled."

"So maybe he's a sadist?" JJ wondered aloud. "The carving, strangulation, both methods that put the victim in a lot of pain before death."

"Maybe." Rossi leaned in closer. "Look at the edges, their pretty much clean and straight."

"Oh I noticed that to." The coroner said, flipping open his files. "I can't precisely say what instrument was used in the carving, but it wasn't anything like scissors or a jagged knife. Also, whoever did it had calm hands that weren't shaking."

"So maybe someone with previous medical background or a biology student?" JJ said.

"Or someone who's done this before." Rossi answered. "Come on, let's get going. Hotch wanted us to talk to the families." JJ nodded as they both thanked the coroner and left.

* * *

"Detective Mathews, my name is Agent Hotchner with the FBI this is Agent Prentiss" Hotch explained to the large man in front of him. His brown mustache curled up as he smiled.

They all shook hands.

"Thought there would be more of ya." The man said. He had a thick southern accent and his hand felt gruff, as if he worked hard.

"Agents Rossi and Jareau are at the medical office examining Melody Darner's body while Agent Morgan and Dr. Reid went ahead to the park with some of your officers." Hotch explained the absent agents who had all been given their assignments on the plane.

"Oh I see." Mathews nodded. "Well we got a room set up for your team here in the back."

"Thank you." Prentiss said as they entered the room and began to set up. Detective Mathews hesitated before leaving.

"Um, anything y'all need to catch this bastard don't hesitate to ask." He said. "I knew the family of Melody Darner, their local. And from talking to Ashley Sans family, I have garnered that they are good people who didn't deserve this."

"Nobody deserves this Detective." Hotch said. "We will do our best."

"Thank you." Mathews said before exiting the room.

"Hotch, we have to be careful what gets out to the media from now on." Prentiss observed as she walked over to the board where pictures of scene had been posted. Melody Darner's eyes stared back at her.

"Well they have been reporting the story already, but I don't want anybody else speaking to the press." Hotch answered. "We don't need them giving this guy a name. It will only boost his ego and more girls will get killed."

* * *

"Ok so this is where Melody Darner was dumped." Morgan said, walking around the area. Yellow tape closed off most of the park, though that didn't stop the array of students who were crowded around, pushing at it and taking pictures with their phones. Reid had already been offered three girl's numbers.

"And Ashley's was just across the river." Reid pointed to another area with yellow tape surrounding it, this time officers were pushing students away while they examined the area. "In a large public setting like this, it was clear he meant the bodies to be found, but how did he get them here without being seen?"

"Look over there Reid." Morgan pointed to the stone wall enclosing the entrance to the park, right in front of a busy traffic light. "Those traffic signals have cameras on them. Maybe one of them caught a license plate number."

Immediately, Reid's phone was out and he pushed the speed dial for someone he knew very well.

"Hey my little G-Man, how's college life?" Garcia answered in her bubbly tone.

"Not for me I didn't really hang out in parks on my college campus. Plus I was too young to really do anything else." Reid answered back. Morgan chuckled.

"Garcia, I need you to look something up for me. There's a traffic stop at University Center and Student Center Drive, I need to see if you can get the tapes from those traffic cameras."

"Hold please." Garcia said as her fingers worked magic over the keys. "You know a lot of places now have underage bars. Theres a lot of fun to be had around the youth of America when you know how to work them over!"

"Garcia." Reid shook his head and smiled.

"Oh boy." the bubbly tone dissappeared to be replaced with concern.

"What is it? Hold on, I'll put you on speaker." Reid held his phone up and called Morgan over to listen.

"You're not going to believe this, but at the time that Melody and Ashley were supposedly dumped in the park, the traffic cameras had minor outages. I can't see anything during those time slots."

"That's no coincidence." Morgan said. "Keep digging baby girl, find me a list of who had access to those cameras and could shut them down."

"You got it! Over and out!" Garcia ended the call.

"To shut down a traffic camera at the exact time that the bodies were dumped is no easy task." Morgan said.

"You know what this means?" Reid asked. Morgan nodded and whipped out his phone.

"Hotch? It's Morgan. I think we're dealing with a team."


End file.
